Luton council to pay £850 and apologise to parents of pupil with special needs
Luton Borough Council agreed to pay £850 and apologise to the parents of a pupil with special educational needs (SEN) for delays in completing his annual review and failing to communicate with them effectively.
The parents complained that the council failed to amend their son’s education, health and care plan (EHCP) within the statutory timescales, while also failing to deliver the provision set out in a section of this plan, according to a local government watchdog.
They say this has caused them and their family distress and for the son to miss out on specified occupational therapy, said a local government and social care ombudsman’s report.
“His EHCP was issued by the local authority in March 2023. His school arranged an annual review for April 2024, but this was cancelled and rescheduled for the following month.
“The school told LBC the parents requested more time to provide their comments, before the review took place. They raised a complaint with the council in November 2024, saying they hadn’t received any communication or a decision letter after the annual review.
“LBC emailed his school the next day to say it hadn’t been provided with any paperwork, following the review. Having received that, the council issued a letter saying it would look to amend the plan. It later stated this was issued prematurely.”
An amended EHCP was issued by LBC in January 2025, only for a further complaint in February, explained the report “The parents said they were unhappy there’d been a delay in completing his annual review and the process hadn’t been completed until January.
“They were also unhappy that their son hadn’t been receiving the provision set out in section F, including occupational therapy and speech and language therapy.
“LBC responded in early March 2025 and said it accepted there’d been a delay in completing his annual review and that there’d been a gap of between one and one-and-a-half terms in the provision of occupational therapy.
“I’ve been unable to see any action the council took to progress the annual review until the parents complained. This is fault and would have caused them frustration and distress. Their appeal right was also delayed.
“LBC has confirmed it’s taken action to address this fault with the school and its SEND team, so I’ve not recommended any service improvements.”
The council has shown speech and language therapy provision was in place for the son between March 2024 and March 2025, while suggesting occupational therapy was in place for some of the period, added the report.
“But that wasn’t always delivered by a professional trained to the level set out in his EHCP. This is fault, which LBC has also addressed.
“Although most of the correspondence was responded to, there’s a large gap between June and November 2024 where the local authority didn’t communicate effectively with them about his annual review.
“The gap in communication for such a lengthy period isn’t reasonable and is fault. LBC must apologise for the distress and frustration caused by these faults.
“It must pay the parents £400 for the delay in receiving appeal rights caused by the length of the annual review process, as well as £450 for the impact of the missed occupational therapy provision.”